I call your attention to the two sections intended for people beside myself, the audio drama script template (intended for anyone who wants it, located down in the tabbox about Audio Drama Works In Progress), and the Works In Progress which are ready for peer review. Let me know what your thoughts are!

SCP-XXXX, the Вильнюс Наставник, surfaced in the North Atlantic, as photographed by Foundation reconnaissance aircraft on loan from the USN.

Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: As containment of SCP-XXXX is not possible, SCP-XXXX must be tracked at all times by Foundation SOSUS1 and naval assets. Research into ASW2 techniques capable of potentially containing or neutralizing SCP-XXXX must be monitored by Foundation agents.

Vessels are advised to maintain a distance greater than 1500 meters from SCP-XXXX. Vessels which close to distances less than 1000 meters risk destruction. No Foundation recovery or exploratory expeditions are authorized at this time.

Under absolutely no circumstances is any vessel, Foundation-affiliated or otherwise, to exercise a firing solution against SCP-XXXX without direct written authorization of a majority of the O5 Council.

Knowledge of SCP-XXXX's existence, the sonar profile of SCP-XXXX, and the risk of approaching SCP-XXXX, has been revealed to the American, British, and Russian navies.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine of the Soviet Акула class (NATO reporting name: Typhoon). The ship's name is Вильнюс Наставник, hull number TK-210. He3 is 200 meters in length, with a beam of 27 meters and a draught of 12 meters. Powered by two OK-650 pressurized-water nuclear reactors (190 MW each) and two VV-type steam turbines (37 MW each), he is propelled by two shafts with 7-bladed shrouded screws. SCP-XXXX has been observed traveling as quickly as 25 knots while surfaced and 50 knots while submerged. He has been observed to reach depths deeper than 1500 meters.4 When traveling at speeds lower than 15 knots, SCP-XXXX is sufficiently quiet as to be almost undetectable by passive sonar.

SCP-XXXX is armed with two 650 mm torpedo tubes and four 533 mm. His primary weapons system consists of twenty R-39 (NATO: SS-N-20) submarine-launched ballistic missiles, with ten 200 Kt MIRV nuclear warheads each. Accordingly, SCP-XXXX is capable of deploying a total of 40 Mt at up to 200 separate targets. Neither the Foundation nor any other military power possesses viable countermeasures to intercept these warheads once they have been launched.

Though capable of accommodating a crew of 160, SCP-XXXX functions unmanned. All systems are remotely controlled by an artificial intelligence functioning with processing power in excess of [REDACTED], well beyond modern computing capabilities. All attempts to interact with this artificial intelligence have failed. SCP-XXXX's AI has proven willing and able to defend itself, as demonstrated by the deaths of the initial recovery team and the subsequent destruction of their DSRV.

SCP-XXXX will surface or come to periscope depth no less frequently than once per month. According to computer readouts observed by the initial recovery team prior to their deaths, the ship's AI is confirming the continued existence of a radio transmission, though no information could be obtained about the origin or specifics of this transmission. Accordingly, the Foundation is unable to replicate this transmission to ensure its continued broadcast. It is speculated that this transmission is part of a fail-deadly nuclear deterrence protocol: in the event SCP-XXXX's AI is unable to receive the proper command and control signals contained within the transmission, SCP-XXXX will rise to launch depth and fire its SLBMs at their predesignated targets.

History: SCP-XXXX was first observed, apparently adrift, in 199█ in the North Atlantic. A Foundation recovery team was dispatched in a DSRV. After boarding, the team discovered all systems functioning normally and no evidence of a crew. According to the ship's log, SCP-XXXX was commissioned by Soviet General Secretary Ivan Yurievich Putin in 202█ as a secret experiment in computer-automated naval systems. Log entries cease during the ship's shakedown cruise. When the recovery team attempted to take control of SCP-XXXX and surface the ship, communication with the team was lost. The DSRV was released and SCP-XXXX dove to 1000 meters, firing a torpedo and destroying the DSRV. The team was listed as killed-in-action. Subsequent attempts to approach SCP-XXXX resulted in the destruction of two additional DSRVs prior to O5-██ ordering the cessation of attempts to board the ship.

No records of the Вильнюс Наставник, his captain, crew, or a Soviet General Secretary Ivan Yurievich Putin circa 202█ have been located by the Foundation. The keel of the TK-210 was laid down in 1986, but the vessel was scrapped in 1990. There is a record of a Captain Second Rank Ivan Yurievich Putin who served as the political officer (замполит) in the Soviet navy in the 1970s and 80s, but he died in a tragic shipboard accident in 1984. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formally dissolved in 1991, more than three decades before the launch of SCP-XXXX. The origins of SCP-XXXX are therefore considered unknown at this time.

3. It is standard Russian/Soviet naval practice to refer to ships as "he" in the same manner as it is standard Anglo-American practice to refer to ships as "she." It is considered inappropriate to refer to ships as "it."

4. Nearly four times the depth of other ships in his class and nearly twice the depth of the Mk-48 ADCAP torpedoes used by the Foundation.

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXX is contained on-site under the cover of a privately-owned Arctic meteorological research station. Located more than 100 kilometers from the nearest town, distance and inhospitable terrain serve to isolate SCP-XXX.

SCP-XXX should be guarded by a security team consisting of no fewer than three (3) individuals. An electrified perimeter fence is to be maintained one kilometer from SCP-XXX. Motion-activated high-speed cameras are to be set up within SCP-XXX, recording both the location and the perimeter. These cameras should be monitored both by the onsite security team and by offsite personnel in the Site-11 and Site-32 watch offices.

All data gathered from SCP-XXX should be backed up to offsite data storage facilities no less than twelve times daily.

Mobile Task Force Xi-11 (currently located at Site-32) is tasked with responding should SCP-XXX suffer a containment breach. SCP-XXX is subject to Protocol SE-0659/A. SCP-XXX is not subject to Protocol XK-0272/A.

As of ██/██/20██, sending transmissions through equipment original to SCP-XXX is strictly forbidden.

Description: SCP-XXX is a Foundation Observation Post: a remote Foundation Security outpost tasked with monitoring every major Foundation secure facility and with offsite data storage. It consists of a single building, approximately five (5) meters wide by ten (10) meters long, constructed on ten (10) articulating stilts capable of adjusting as the icecap shifts. The facility is designed to maintain a permanent staff of three to five (3-5) individuals in Spartan living conditions, with consumables for five months. Resupply is possible by air, weather permitting. The building is equipped with a nerve gas primary failsafe mechanism and a high explosive secondary failsafe mechanism. In addition to standard Observation Post equipment, it contains a single black electronic device (designated SCP-XXX-A) with a numerical keypad and a fifteen (15) digit digital display. Attempts to open SCP-XXX-A for analysis have to date proven unsuccessful. The automated systems at SCP-XXX designate it Observation Post 3-87, despite the fact that no such Observation Post was ever built.

Unlike standard Foundation Observation Posts, SCP-XXX does not receive data relating to current Foundation assets, alert systems, research, facilities, and/or task forces. It does receive data from sources unknown. These data sometimes correspond with the status of reality as understood (i.e., Site-19 being located at [DATA EXPUNGED]), but at other times they do not (i.e., Site-19 instead being located at [REDACTED]). The data received remains consistent as long as the readout on SCP-XXX-A remains unchanged; altering the numerical readout alters the data. Foundation researchers are divided as to the origin of these alternate data sources. Some believe the sources could be alternate realities, in accordance with Hugh Everett’s “many-worlds interpretation” of quantum mechanics; others believe these may be alternate timelines, resulting from temporal interference in the past. No numerical readout has yet been determined to correspond with this reality/timeline.

Not only is the Observation Post’s standard monitoring equipment affected by SCP-XXX-A, but all equipment originally discovered onsite appears to be affected, including a civilian radio. SCP-XXX-A has shown no ability to affect any equipment other than that originally discovered onsite, regardless of the location of either SCP-XXX-A or the presence of new equipment in the Observation Post.

Apart from the conjectural incident causing its shift to this reality/timeline, SCP-XXX has shown no evidence of a capacity for transferring from one reality or timeline to another. Communications have been demonstrated to be bidirectional; after the events of ██/██/20██ no further efforts to contact alternate Foundations are permitted.

History: SCP-XXX was discovered on ██/██/20██, when the Site-11 received a properly-formatted and twice-authenticated automatic notification of the primary failsafe activation for Foundation Observation Post 3-87, despite the fact that no such Foundation Observation Post was known to exist. Mobile Task Force Xi-11 was dispatched to investigate, discovering the bodies of four (4) individuals, including:

Female subject: Genetic match to Dr. Rachel Mackenzie (0171-UT-00890364). Wears Foundation Security battle dress uniform with “Major” rank insignia and name tape “Mackenzie”. Armed with FN P90. Killed by three gunshot wounds to torso. NOTE: Dr. Mackenzie was subsequently confirmed to be alive and in good health at Site-██.

Male subject #1: Unidentified male Caucasian, with face destroyed. Wears civilian attire. ID in wallet gives name [REDACTED]; no matches found within Foundation personnel files. Killed by gunshot wound to back of head.

Male subject #2: Unidentified male, indeterminate ethnicity. Wears unidentified military fatigues of same style as Male subjects #3 and #4. No rank insignia or identification. Armed with MP5SD. Killed by two gunshot wounds to face.

Foundation Observation Posts are to initiate primary failsafe devices rather than risk capture by non-Foundation forces. Primary failsafe devices are to both 1) preserve the integrity of data systems and 2) deny access to these systems until such time as Foundation forces can secure them. In the event the automated security systems detect continued presence of unauthorized forces after the activation of primary failsafe devices, automated secondary failsafe devices are to activate. Secondary failsafe devices are to ensure that all data systems are irreparably destroyed.

Civilian radio receiver Output: Civilian radio broadcasting unremarkable.Additional Notes: This is the status of the monitoring equipment in SCP-XXX when it was initially secured by MTF Xi-11. The reality designated 98914-00173-21129 has been colloquially named the “Beta-verse”. It is conjectured this is the reality from whence SCP-XXX came. Accordingly, SCP-XXX-A is reset to monitoring the Beta-verse between tests, as it is conceivable further reality-shifts may transfer from the Beta-verse to this reality.

Name: Dr. H█████ P████████Date: ██/██/20██Zulu Time: 1317 hoursDuration of Test: 00:02:01XXX-A Numerical Setting: 00381-46890-42091Summary of Foundation Monitoring Data: All stationary Foundation assets listed as “Locked Down.” All mobile Foundation assets listed as “Devoted to biological contagion containment operations.” All non-essential Foundation assets listed as “Terminated.”Civilian radio receiver Output:All received broadcasts appeared to reference an unidentified plague.Additional Notes: The “Wolfgang-Bravo virus” does not match any known contagion, though there are noted similarities to SCP-008.

Name: Dr. H█████ P████████Date: ██/██/20██Zulu Time: 1353 hoursDuration of Test: 00:02:22XXX-A Numerical Setting: 65835-94894-86842Summary of Foundation Monitoring Data: Command HQ listed as "Offline." All other sites listed as successfully locked down.Civilian radio receiver Output: A state of martial law is in effect for the United States, as indicated by received transmission. No data available on other countries.Additional Notes: None.

KERCKHOFFS SHANNON ALPHA FOUR

“Are you sure?” Jones asked in astonished disbelief, the color draining from his face. He had known something was up when his companion had walked in through the gates of the American embassy a half hour before.

“You think I left my position my wife, my children, just to jest?! Once the Insurgency realizes I have left, they are kaput,” spat the former agent-in-place. “I’d bet my life on the accuracy of this information - boje moi! I know the rules: maintain cover as long as possible to keep providing good and useful intelligence. You forget I was KGB trained a lifetime ago.”

“I’m sorry, Nikolai Andre’ich, I had to ask,” Jones said. “We’ll do what we can to get your wife and children out, I promise.”

“Spasiba, my friend,” Nikolai replied.

Jones picked up his secure phone and punched in the direct line to Site-11’s watch office. “This is Supervisory Special Agent Jones. Get me the duty officer immediately.” That was a full bird colonel. “Colonel, SSA Jones. We have a situation, confirmed code Kerckhoffs Shannon Alpha Four.” The colonel acknowledged and hung up.

Halfway across the world at Site-11, things were already starting to happen. CRITIC communiques were sent out by secure means to all Foundation facilities and units containing the code phrase “KERCKHOFFS SHANNON ALPHA 4”. Communications protocols required these messages to be in the hands of their intended recipients no more than fifteen minutes from the time of their creation. Site Directors and Heads of Security had their meetings interrupted, were woken up, and in one case was found in the shower, all to be handed a single sheet of paper. Most knew the code by memory; a few, mostly former scientists promoted to administrative roles, had to look it up in their large hardcopy codebooks.

While the messages were going out, Jones had typed his handwritten notes into a coherent report. While his computer was TEMPEST certified, he decided to use his typewriter for this one. A short five minutes later, he had the full report written up. Sealing it within a secure envelope addressed to Overwatch Headquarters’ cover address, he walked down the hall to the Embassy’s communications office.

“Hey Mike, one for the bag” Jones said, greeting the clerk. He was referring to the diplomatic courier pouch which could pass through international customs with all the protections of diplomatic immunity – also, one of the reasons the Foundation liked embedding operatives within embassies and consulates across the globe. “This should go out immediately – highest priority and all that.”

“You got it, Sam,” replied the communications clerk. He’d pegged Jones as working for one of the Three Letter Agencies back in Washington – doubtful he was really just a commercial attaché – but the Moscow Chief of Station hadn’t said anything about it, and it wasn’t Mike’s position to ask. In any case, the envelope Jones had handed him would be in the air within the hour.

The Foundation’s thirteen Overseers were similarly delivered the CRITIC message, though their message had one other word attached. The word itself, ███████, was simply a randomly generated codeword changed weekly, but it indicated that the KERCKHOFFS SHANNON ALPHA 4 alert had originated in Moscow.

It was well after midnight at Overwatch HQ, so the Overseers were, for the most part, awakened by the message. All recognized the gravity of the situation, indeed, the codephrase’s meaning was nearly as troubling as any of the various end-of-the-world scenarios they discussed on any given day. But they also realized that the message meant the soonest they would know more details would be the time it took for the full report to arrive by courier. That would be the following morning. So, in the meantime, they returned to sleep – or tried to.

Jones’ message arrived to Overwatch HQ by courier, undisturbed during transit, at exactly 0736 hours local time. It was delivered directly to the Overseers, who had already assembled.

It took them only a couple minutes to read and digest the report. It was quickly agreed that the items to which the report referred had to be retrieved at any and all costs. This would prove challenging, as the information suggested the Factory had mass produced them, so there was no telling exactly how many of these existed. The Chaos Insurgency had at least ten of them. And the Overseers all knew that the Chaos Insurgency rarely was the first Group of Interest to the Foundation to find anything. The Overseers were split on what to do about the items. In the end, it came to a vote – unusual, for this body so commonly unanimous in its collective opinion. Even more unusual was that it split seven to six in favor of destroying all but three instances of the item. One would be kept for Foundation use at Site-11’s Secure Annex, with another at Site-19 being researched by Foundation scientists attempting to determine countermeasures, and a third on a separate continent in secure storage for the sake of redundancy. All the rest were to be destroyed as thoroughly and completely as the Foundation could.

The items were given a Keter designation. Not only did their continued existence jeopardize all ongoing Foundation operations, but until all instances were accounted for, much of the Foundation’s work would screeching to, if not a halt, then a pace describable only by the term “glacial”. Beyond that, the proliferation of the related technology threatened to destabilize world politics in a way unprecedented in history.

Within a short forty-eight hours, Nikolai’s initial report was verified through other Foundation intelligence assets. A bulletin was written up and sent out by courier to all Foundation facilities and units, detailing and elaborating on the CRITIC message. Strict orders for handling the situation were included.

MESSAGE
Locate and secure any and all instances of E-20516 (details appended) through any means necessary. Lethal force authorized.

Assume all telephone and facsimile lines to be insecure until further notice.

Assume all electronic communication lines to be insecure until further notice.

All inter-site communications relating to any and all classified matters are to be handled by courier only until further notice. No exceptions.

Item #: E-20516 (SCP Numerical Designation Pending)Object Class: KeterSpecial Containment Procedures: Final procedures pending.UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXISTENCE OF E-20516, OR ANY RELATED INFORMATION, TO BE PASSED TO ANY NON-FOUNDATION PERSONNEL. ALL EFFORTS MUST BE TAKEN TO ENSURE E-20516’S EXISTENCE AND WHEREABOUTS REMAINS SECRET.
At present, the Foundation does not possess any instances of E-20516. Upon retrieval, instances should be delivered under guard to the nearest secure Foundation facility. The first, second, and third retrieved instances will be designated E-20516-01, -02, and -03 (or -01, -02, -03 of the appropriate SCP numerical designation) and transported to their final destinations in accordance with Foundation Armed Transport Protocols. All other instances are to be destroyed.Description: According to reports, E-20516 are Factory-made devices resembling a combination computer scanner / laser-jet printer, capable of accommodating documents on standard Letter and Legal sized paper. There are three buttons on the left side of each device, labeled “Power”, “Decrypt”, and “Cancel.” On the right side of the device, there are several input ports, including (but not necessarily limited to) USB, Firewire, Ethernet, and RJ11 telephone jack.
E-20516 units are believed to be able to decipher any encrypted information input through either the ports or the scanner face. Intelligence reports from reliable sources indicate that E-20516 are capable of decrypting STE transmissions employing 256 bit encryption, current instances of PGP encryption, and one-time pads, all in either real-time or real-time from the perspective of a human observer. Note: until the discovery of E-20516, properly prepared one-time pads were believed to information-theoretically secure, or secure even when the adversary has unlimited computing power.
E-20516 are known to be possessed by the Chaos Insurgency (quantities in the Insurgency’s possession are believed to be at least ten units). It is unknown if other individuals or organizations possess E-20516. The total number of units produced by the Factory is as yet unknown.

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-Q is to be stored in a locked room with standard security precautions for preventing unauthorized access. No items are to be placed through SCP-Q except for approved research. Under no circumstances are personnel to pass through SCP-Q.

Description: SCP-Q is a wrought iron archway, originally discovered at an abandoned cemetery in Northern Canada. No records of the cemetery or those buried there have ever been located.

Any object which passes through SCP-Q is instantly dissolved into its constituent atoms, resulting in their immediate and total destruction.[[footnote+]] There is a single exception: When tissue samples obtained from SCP-682 were passed through SCP-Q, no change was detected. [[/footnote]] Otherwise, SCP-Q appears completely inert; no anomalous energy signatures are detected.

Addendum: Memo to all Area-179 personnel from Area-179 Director Wilson:

After yesterday’s explosion, SCP-Q is no longer to be used as a garbage disposal device. You should know better, people: when the arch breaks objects down at the atomic level, those atoms will rebond in ways you might not have predicted. It’s basic chemistry.

Special Containment Procedures:Containment procedures are unknown. Under no circumstances should SCP-Z be exposed to flame-based weaponry, explosives, or nuclear weapons.

Procedures Amended after Incident SCP-Z-1: Specimens of SCP-Z can be destroyed by exposure to concentrated chlorine trifluoride. Containment of SCP-Z is difficult and impractical at best, considering its ability to travel rapidly underground. Primary concentrations of SCP-Z remain in the proximity of Area-179, due to the extreme heat of SCP-X, but specimens have been observed to leave Area-179's outer perimeter. In the event of such a containment breach, all nonessential personnel and civilians are to be evacuated and all nonessential heat sources shut down. A thermite-based fire or similar extremely powerful exothermic reaction is to be established in an attempt to draw out local SCP-Z specimens. Any observed specimens are to be destroyed with concentrated chlorine trifluoride.

Description: SCP-Z was accidentally created in 201█ as part of Research Project Vulcan’s Forge, intending to use the energy of SCP-X for power generation. SCP-Z was originally a highly advanced photovoltaic cell technology, involving [DATA EXPUNGED]. After circumstances unknown, a containment breach occurred at Area 179. During this incident, the Vulcan’s Forge prototype was transformed into a seemingly sapient organism, now designated SCP-Z.

SCP-Z resembles a large black shadow roughly 1.5 meters by 2.5 meters. It is capable of moving by unknown means, flying or hovering. It also appears capable of subterranean burrowing, possibly moving through microscopic fissures in the bedrock. SCP-Z has been observed to travel in excess of one hundred (100) kilometers per hour.

SCP-Z appears to feed on any form of heat or infrared radiation, including human body heat. It will wrap itself around the source of the heat, draining the thermal energy until it reaches some unknown level. Victims of SCP-Z attacks die nearly instantly, appearing to suffer from severe hypothermia; internal temperatures of victims post-mortem have been measured as low as one hundred (100) Kelvin (-173.15 degrees Celsius).

SCP-Z is believed to self-replicate through fission, though this has never been observed. It is conjectured to be an energy-intensive process.

Be offensive.

Honor your professionals.

Own the street.

Know your history.

Do not ignore analysis.

Do not be parochial.

Train your people.

Do not be shoved aside.

Do not stay to long.

Never give up.

Good morning, folks. I am Supervisory Special Agent Smith. If you aren’t here for the Counterintelligence Orientation, help yourself to coffee and donuts. If you are here for the Orientation, help yourself to coffee and donuts and chase the people who are either lost or infiltrators out of here.

…You think I’m joking about the infiltrators? While you guys are filling your mugs, let me tell you three things about myself. I have worked in counterintelligence on and off for the last thirty years, twenty with the Foundation. My team brought down the Tallmadge Ring that infiltrated a half dozen Foundation facilities and task forces last year, including Overwatch HQ, where they controlled seven of the Overseers’ personal body guards. And I never joke.

Okay, so, everyone has their caffeine? Alright. So, this orientation is the beginning of your tour with the Foundation’s Counter-Intelligence Division, which will last for at least the next two years and at most the next six years, before you rotate into one of the other Foundation divisions for a break of not less than a year. Some of you have been through this before: I see Phil there in the back – this is your fifth tour? Sixth? Okay, you’re just saying that to make me feel old. Anyway, the reason we rotate you is that if we don’t, you’ll fall apart psychologically. Anyone here know James Jesus Angleton? He ran CIA’s counterintel division for 21 years. Did more damage to the CIA than the Soviets did, damned fool. Well intentioned extremist who saw spies everywhere. Of course, ehem, this had nothing to do with Foundation agents imbedded within the American intelligence community during the fifties, sixties, and seventies.

I’m getting off track.

Rule one: assume nothing. You, third from the back. You ever meet the woman sitting next you before? No? How do you know she’s not a Chaos Insurgency operative with a knife up her sleeve? Hmm? You see, everyone is potentially under opposition control. You, second row, beard. Your landlady is the kindly senile old Mrs. Cornelius, who keeps a half dozen cats; you’re sleeping with her daughter Emma, to whom you have mentioned the Foundation’s existence. How do I know this? Well, I could tell you that I bugged your apartment. Or I could tell you that Emma and Mrs. Cornelius both work for me. Believe whichever of those makes you happier. And keep your mouth shut in the future.

That brought me to point number two: when you’re doing counterintelligence, you must own the street. No fewer than twelve operatives per job – none of this two guys in a car with a camera shit you see in Hollywood. If I spot two guys in a car with a camera, they’re the least of my worries. I worry about the mother pushing the stroller, the kid with the soccer ball, and the street vender selling sandwiches.

Audio Drama Works In Progress

Of course people are welcome to write audio scripts however they like, but this is a useful semi-standardized template for a format that is easy for a producer/director/sound engineer/actor to work from. People are welcome to copy it, and shoot me a message if they have questions.

Scratch Pad for Previewing Formatting

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXX is contained on-site under the cover of a privately-owned Arctic meteorological research station. Located more than 100 kilometers from the nearest town, distance and inhospitable terrain serve to isolate SCP-XXX.

SCP-XXX should be guarded by a security team consisting of no fewer than three (3) individuals. An electrified perimeter fence is to be maintained one kilometer from SCP-XXX. Motion-activated high-speed cameras are to be set up within SCP-XXX, recording both the location and the perimeter. These cameras should be monitored both by the onsite security team and by offsite personnel in the Site-11 and Site-32 watch offices.

All data gathered from SCP-XXX should be backed up to offsite data storage facilities no less than twelve times daily.

Mobile Task Force Xi-11 (currently located at Site-32) is tasked with responding should SCP-XXX suffer a containment breach. SCP-XXX is subject to Protocol SE-0659/A. SCP-XXX is not subject to Protocol XK-0272/A.

Description: SCP-XXX is a Foundation Observation Post: a remote Foundation Security outpost tasked with monitoring every major Foundation secure facility and with offsite data storage. It consists of a single building, approximately five (5) meters wide by ten (10) meters long, constructed on ten (10) articulating stilts capable of adjusting as the icecap shifts. The facility is designed to maintain a permanent staff of three to five (3-5) individuals in spartan living conditions, with consumables for five months. Resupply is possible by air, weather permitting. The building is equipped with a nerve gas primary failsafe mechanism and a high explosive secondary failsafe mechanism. The automated systems at SCP-XXX designate it Observation Post 3-87, despite the fact that no such Observation Post was ever built.

While the facility's communications station is capable of receiving data relating to current Foundation assets, alert systems, research, facilities, and/or task forces, it has also demonstrated the capacity to receive authenticated Foundation communications from unknown sources.

History: SCP-XXX was discovered on ██/██/20██, when the Site-11 received a properly-formatted and twice-authenticated automatic notification of the primary failsafe activation for Foundation Observation Post 3-87, despite the fact that no such Foundation Observation Post was known to exist. Mobile Task Force Xi-11 was dispatched to investigate, discovering the bodies of four (4) individuals, including:

Female subject: Genetic match to Dr. Rachel Mackenzie (0171-UT-00890364). Wears Foundation Security battle dress uniform with “Major” rank insignia and name tape “Mackenzie”. Armed with FN P90. Killed by three gunshot wounds to torso. NOTE: Dr. Mackenzie was subsequently confirmed to be alive and in good health at Site-██.

Male subject #1: Unidentified male Caucasian, with face destroyed. Wears civilian attire. ID in wallet gives name [REDACTED]; no matches found within Foundation personnel files. Killed by gunshot wound to back of head.

Male subject #2: Unidentified male, indeterminate ethnicity. Wears unidentified military fatigues of same style as Male subjects #3 and #4. No rank insignia or identification. Armed with MP5SD. Killed by two gunshot wounds to face.

Foundation Observation Posts are to initiate primary failsafe devices rather than risk capture by non-Foundation forces. Primary failsafe devices are to both 1) preserve the integrity of data systems and 2) deny access to these systems until such time as Foundation forces can secure them. In the event the automated security systems detect continued presence of unauthorized forces after the activation of primary failsafe devices, automated secondary failsafe devices are to activate. Secondary failsafe devices are to ensure that all data systems are irreparably destroyed.

Harper arranges for GOC Agent Granger to get info on MC&D; Info points to "M".

Harper gives update to O5-7, who points to Prof. Sir James Holmes.

Holmes points Harper at 1440 and 557-1; knows more but wants 75 liters of liquid from SCP-006.

O5-7 initially refuses Holmes request.

Harper travels to Research Site-29 in Oman to follow up on 557-1 lead; it goes nowhere.

Harper travels to Mount Kazbek to track down 1440. 1440 says he met with a mysterious young woman who offered him a cure for his condition, if he went with her. He did not believe her and declined, not wishing to bring destruction down.

Approach

O5-11 dies of a heart attack. The timing is too convenient, in O5-7's opinion. With Harper having run out of leads, O5-7, O5-6, and O5-12 approve the transfer of 75 liters of liquid from 006 to Holmes.

Holmes provides Harper with the following information and advice:

The GOC suspects the treasure chest and other Cuban items are located in a facility in Finland.

Though Holmes does not know all the details thereof, there is a plot to seize control of "the world behind the veil". Holmes believes it would not be in his own best interest for this plot to succeed, but he himself does not have the resources to foil the conspiracy.

Someone very powerful within the Foundation is a key conspirator, and Holmes suspects that individual will kill Harper if he/she believes Harper to be close to identifying them.

SCP-1515-UC
Description: A chest of Spanish gold 2 escudo coins (doubloons), minted in 1521. A world atlas, dated to 1521, with period-style maps with modern levels of accuracy. Each coin’s location appears in the atlas on all relevant maps. When a drop of human blood is placed on a given coin’s location, the blood is absorbed into the atlas and that coin detonates. Each coin, when detonated, releases approximately 5 MJ of energy, and then returns to the chest.

History:

Recovered from shipwreck in Straits of Florida in 1872.

Owned by private collector in Havana until 1895.

Acquired by Foundation in 1895.

Used by Foundation to ignite powder charges on the USS Maine on 15 February 1898, instigating Spanish-American War.

After American invasion, transferred to newly established Foundation Site in Trinidad, Cuba.

Foundation site in Trinidad nationalized by Fidel Castro’s government, March 1959. Foundation staff resists Cuban forces; survivors of site take-over are executed. One researcher managed to escape. Last time any object at the Trinidad site observed by Foundation personnel until 1988.

Castro begins negotiations with MC&D for objects from Trinidad. Foundation uses US military and intelligence ties to force Bay of Pigs invasion attempt. MC&D goes to ground with objects without paying Castro, leaving Castro pissed.

Reminiscences

Night Raid

Sitting in his car a block from the target, Director McDonnell lit his pipe. He hated waiting, but securing buildings was the job for younger fellows. He'd only accepted the promotion to head of the Foundation's Counterintelligence Division the year before so he could have more time to spend with his granddaughters. In forty years working for the Foundation, he'd missed too many of his own children's birthdays; with Christmas just days away he was looking forward to seeing the entire family in his large house in Edinburgh. Of course, that would require his not being called away on work. Here he was on the week before Christmas in a cold, abandoned street following up on an untraceable and anomalous tip made to his direct line about "some documents which might interest Foundation Counterintelligence."

The radio on the dash crackled. "Right, this is Xi-One-Three-Lead to all units. Stand by to breach target in Three. Two. One. Go! Go! Go!" A muffled thump rang through the darkness as the mobile task force blew their way into the target: an old warehouse in the run-down outskirts of London's industrial district. For a long two minutes, the night was still and quiet. Then the radio crackled again, "Target is clear. Director, you're going to want to see this."

"On my way," replied McDonnell. He left his car and strode up the street to the warehouse.

A young chap dressed head to toe in the black tactical clothing adopted by police and special forces worldwide greeted him. "This way, Director," he said, gesturing inside.

"American?" the Director asked, noting the young man's accent.

"Yes, sir. Agent Lombardi," the American said, walking McDonnell through the long and mostly empty warehouse. A few crates were stacked along the walls, but they didn't so much take up space as make it seem all the much more cavernous.

"New to the Foundation, I take it?" McDonnell inquired, making smalltalk.

The young agent blinked, "Yes, sir."

"Well, Agent Price will take good care of you," the Director of Foundation Counterintelligence said as they reached the warehouse's office. "Speak of the devil! Burt!"

"Director," Agent Burt Price saluted, looking up from a table piled high with documents. Several black-clad figures were pouring over the pages.

"What's all this?" asked McDonnell, gesturing at the table.

"We have a security breach," Price replied, handing over several sheets of paper from the table. McDonnell thumbed through them. The first was a testing log for some zucchini that grew nearly instantly, printed on Foundation letterhead. The second, also on Foundation letterhead, was documentation on a slightly worn high school yearbook from 1976. The third was in Russian, with a KGB seal in the corner. "The first one there is SCP-506, and the second one is SCP-1833. My Russian's a bit rusty, but the third one is something about an old lady able to 'hear' nearby radio transmissions. I've never heard of that one," Price said.

Taking a puff on his pipe, McDonnell shook his head, "Neither have I, old chap. Neither have I." He furrowed his brow and picked up another paper. It was part of a budget for the Global Occult Coalition's previous fiscal year. "Is there any sort of method to this madness?"

Price laughed, "Not that I can tell. And this will keep the chaps at Site 11 busy for a week or two. What I do know is that someone has top level access to the Foundation, GOC, Marshal, Carter, and Dark—"

"Prometheus Labs and the Factory, according to this, sirs," one agent said.

"List of IRG operations in Latin America," a third noted, holding up a sheet.

McDonnell nodded, "I get the idea. Persons unknown managed to obtain a sizable quantity of classified information from some of the most secretive organizations on the planet. Definitely bad news, but hardly a crisis, I should say."

"Uh, I wouldn't place a wager on that, sirs," one of the other agents interrupted, "you should read this."

"What is it, Harding?" asked Price, taking the pro-offered page. His draw dropped as he read the page. "Shit." He handed the paper to McDonnell.

Reading the paper, McDonnell swore loudly in his native Gaelic. It was a detailed schedule of the whereabouts and security precautions of all thirteen of the Foundation's Overseers during the last week in December 1988. In other words, the week which would start in a mere five days. A scribbled note at the bottom stated 'Ideal timing for action on the twenty-sixth at 0300 Zulu.' A second page with fair quality photos of the Overseers was stapled to the first; O5-5, O5-6, O5-7, and O5-8 were all circled in red ink.

McDonnell was intelligent enough to realize that he didn't know exactly what was planned, but he certainly had some guesses. He turned to Price, "Alright, Price. Bag it all and bring it in. As of this moment, everything related to this is Level 5, need to know access only. I want copies of these documents stored at our site in Manchester; have the originals delivered to my office." The wheels in McDonnell's head were already turning. He'd use his contacts in Whitehall to arrange for a diplomatic courier bag to carry the documents on a transatlantic flight. The papers would go to the analysts at Site 11 so they could stir the tea leaves, while he could give his report personally to the O5 Council at Overwatch HQ. And, with any luck, he'd be back home for Christmas.

Interlude

"They found the warehouse. McDonnell is taking the evidence to Overwatch HQ tonight."

"There will be copies."

"Those are stored in the Manchester annex. They will be taken care of."

"Good. Everything is going according to plan."

Explosions

At just before seven o'clock the following evening, Director McDonnell was sitting in Clipper Class on the Pan Am flight with a diplomatic pouch in the next seat, handcuffed to his wrist. The cabin had a number of Foundation personnel: O5-5 was sitting the next seat forward next to his bodyguard, while McDonnell's deputy was seated behind him. He also recognized a couple of American intelligence officials and two fellows who looked to be their bodyguards. McDonnell cracked the first of his stack of novels. It would be a long flight to JFK, and the pouch meant he couldn't sleep through it.

At exactly 19:02:46.9, an explosion punched a large hole in the left side of the fuselage. McDonnell and his diplomatic pouch were instantly incinerated. Shock waves from the blast ricocheted through the aircraft, meeting pulses still coming from the explosion itself. Due to a quirk of fluid dynamics, these shock waves, technically called "Mach stem shock waves", traveled twenty-five percent faster than the waves from the explosion itself, and with twice the power thereof. As these shock waves pulsed through plane, a section of the 747's roof a few feet above the explosion's source was peeled away as if by a giant hand. The force of the explosion smashed through the bulkhead wall separating the forward cargo hold and the cockpit, shaking the flight-control cables. This shaking caused the front section of the fuselage to roll, pitch, and yaw. The entire front section of the aircraft, with the flight deck and first class cabin, separated from the rest of the plane and flew upwards and to starboard. There, it collided and sheered away the number three engine. No longer under any control, the aircraft (or what was left of it) went into a steep dive. The plane continued to disintegrate as it plummeted 9,400 meters through the night, crashing into the Scottish town of Lockerbie two minutes later.

Unnoticed and flying without a transponder, an unmarked Cessna flew past the wreckage. Though maintaining radio silence, the Cessna's pilot would report his observations as soon as he landed.

Over two hundred kilometers away in Manchester, the four story office building of Solicitors, Carnegie and Potter was empty, save three night shift security staff and two caretakers. Though Carnegie and Potter were indeed two well-respected solicitors, they mostly handled litigation related to the Foundation's activities in the United Kingdom. Their office was also one of the Foundation's secure document repositories. In the building's safe sat what were now the only remaining copies of the documents recovered from the warehouse by Xi-13.

A nondescript package a meter on each side sat in the building's receiving room. Because of its late arrival, and the fact that was not labeled with the codewords for Euclid or Keter objects, it hadn't been processed; the security guard who had signed for the parcel knew the staff would handle it in the morning. All the employees were properly briefed on handling unusual parcel deliveries at odd hours, as well as the appropriate code phrases for various hazards. This package was labeled as reams of blank legal paper (hence the weight) for the offices with the proper supply authentication phrases. In all, it was a thoroughly mundane delivery for a building which often received items which were anything but.

The contents were not reams of blank legal paper (though had the guard opened the package for inspection, two layers deep of paper reams sat atop the true contents). Most of the package's cubic meter of volume was taken up by Semtex, supplied by two very helpful members of the Irish Republican Army now feeding the fish in the Irish Sea. Like squirrels with their nuts, Irishmen were always hording arms and explosives for the day when they would rise up to drive the English from their island. Or that was the plan of some of the more radical countrymen, at least. The revolutionary struggle that had continued for over seventy years showed little sign of concluding in a manner agreeable to the IRA. Over time, many of the caches of weapons and bombs were forgotten about as their owners retired from their struggle or were arrested or killed by the British military and police forces. So, for someone with the right contacts and sufficient ruthlessness, it was not difficult to acquire large quantities of high explosives with no clear connection to the user, assuming that someone did not mind incurring the wrath of a fairly nasty terrorist organization with a good memory. IRA reprisals did not concern the men who had appropriated that organization's Semtex.

A brief radio signal reached a radio-receiver attached to the plastic explosive's detonator. In an instant, the cube of high explosive detonated at a velocity of over eight thousand meters per second. The explosion tore through the building, reducing the military-spec architecture to as much gravel. All five people died with merciful haste as the shock wave overtook them. The fireball, burning at temperatures sufficient to melt the structure's steel skeleton, turned the building's safe into a crematorium for the secured materials within. Hundreds of thousands of pages of classified Foundation documents, including the copies of the documents from the warehouse, were reduced to cinders by the inferno. Within less than ten seconds, the parts of the office building not strewn across the area by the explosion itself crumpled inward into a mound of twisted, charred rubble.

The local police and fire department arrived on the scene within ten minutes, just missing a nondescript sedan with an unremarkable driver leaving the area. With his radio detonator hidden away under the vehicle's dash, he stopped at a telephone booth a few blocks from the scene to report that his end of the operation had occurred without incident.

Ramifications

The early morning sun illuminated the large lobby as Timothy Harper strode into the the Foundation's Command-02 Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Though it could not compare to Overwatch HQ, its proximity to one of the world's most powerful capital ensured it was one of the Foundation's main decision-making nexuses. It was a relatively unremarkable seven-story limestone office building like so many others in the city. Faceless, nameless drones in the vast bureaucracy flitted in and out of the building, not unlike the other buildings in the Federal Triangle.

After passing speedily through the obligatory security checkpoint, Harper browsed the headlines of his paper as he made his way to his tiny office on the third floor. A plane bombing in the UK was the leading story. Nasty business, international terrorism, Harper thought. Not his area of concern, though. Probably. He was one of the Foundation's top counterintelligence investigators. Pushing fifty, his black hair was streaked with gray from many late nights spent on the job. It would have almost cost him his family, had a car crash not taken his wife and children first.

"Morning, Troy," Harper grunted. He and Troy Muir, a former intelligence case officer invalided out of field operations when he lost his right leg, shared the cramped office. "Where's Monica?" he asked, referring to Monica Daniel, the grad student from GWU who was interning in the CI Directorate. Always on the lookout for talent, the Foundation was more than happy to pay for someone's education, assuming they passed a thorough background check, signed a four hundred page non-disclosure agreement, and agreed to work three years for every year of schooling the Foundation funded.

"Errand to the Ethics Committee Clerk's Office, I think." His one-legged office-mate looked up. "Tim, they want you on the seventh floor ASAP," Muir reported with a frown.

"Any idea which way the wind was blowing?" Harper asked. A summons to the seventh floor, domain of the directors and overseers, was rarely a happy prospect.

"They didn't say," Muir replied. Harper nodded, and left.

Harper was met on the seventh floor by a security officer. Only those with Level 5 security clearance were permitted on the floor without an escort. The guard led him to a darkened conference room and ushered him in. A severe dark-haired woman in her mid-thirties stood alone, looking out the heavily-tinted window at the Capital Building. Harper recognized her as O5-7, one of the Overseers. Though none of the Overseers had an assigned specialization, it was Harper's understanding that Seven tended to take particular interest in the Foundation's intelligence matters. He'd seen her speaking with Director McDonnell before, but had never actually met her himself.

"The Foundation is under attack, Mr. Harper," the Overseer stated, her back still to him. "Two nights ago, acting on an anonymous tip, under Counterintelligence Director McDonnell's personal supervision, MTF Xi-13 raided a warehouse outside London. They recovered a large number of classified documents relating to the Foundation and several groups-of-interest. Some of these documents apparently suggested the existence of a plot to assassinate several members of the O5 Council, including myself."

"I assume plans are in place to handle the situation, ma'am?" Harper asked, hiding his alarm.

"There are plans in place, yes, Mr. Harper. The Foundation has plans for everything," Seven replied. "More concerning than the apparent plot is the implication of these documents. According to Director McDonnell's initial report, the Foundation documents found indicated the breach was caused by someone with at least Level 4 clearance, if not Level 5. The penetrations of the GOC, Serpent's Hand, Chaos Insurgency, IRG, Factory, Prometheus Labs, Wondertainment, Church of the Broken Guard, and MC&D appear to all comparably high level."

At this revelation, Harper's eyes widened. Somebody had top level penetrations of nearly every major player behind the Veil, including the Foundation, and this was the first they were finding out about it? Nobody was that good.

As if sensing his thoughts despite having her back turned to him, Seven continued, "I hardly believe it myself, Mr. Harper, but as you no doubt realize, we cannot dismiss the possibility of such a turn of events out of hand simply because it is unlikely or unpleasant. After all, this organization deals with the impossible and the unthinkable every day. The Council decided to hold an emergency meeting where Director McDonnell could present the documents personally. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible. Last night, Overseer Five and his bodyguard, Counterintelligence Director McDonnell, and two American intelligence officers who have assisted our Middle Eastern operations were killed when an on-board explosion brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland. McDonnell had the original copies of the seized documents in a diplomatic pouch. Moments later, a Foundation document repository in Manchester was bombed. That document repository held the only existing copies of the seized documents. Our recovery teams report no evidence that either version of the documents survived."

"Which both lends credence to the reality of this penetration's threat, and suggests the plotters were responsible for the attacks," Harper observed. He felt like someone had punched him in the gut - McDonnell had been an old friend, someone he could trust in a business where trust was the scarcest of commodities, but there would be time for grieving later.

"The surviving members of the Council drew the same conclusion, Mr. Harper," Seven nodded, finally turning to face him. Her narrowed eyes flashed dangerously over high cheekbones. To call the Overseer angry would have been no small understatement. "We have already taken measures to ensure our personal protection. The other Overseers believe this will be sufficient; I disagree. I have convinced them we need to investigate this apparent conspiracy, fully but also quietly. If the conspirators believe they are about to be discovered, it is not at all unreasonable for them to either go to ground and disappear, or decide to cut their losses and attempt even more direct action. Right now, the Council has no idea what the ultimate goal of the conspirators is. This makes them even more dangerous in the Council's eyes. And while you and I both have enough experience in the intelligence hall of mirrors to take that in stride, most of my fellow Overseers are scared. They are mainly former scientists and uncomfortable when dealing with the uncertainties of political intrigue." Seven moved to the conference table separating them. She slid a folder across the table to him. "This is everything we know about the security breach, the two direct attacks, and the conspiracy as a whole," she observed. This was less than encouraging: it amounted to perhaps a half dozen sheets of paper. "You will be conducting the investigation. The Council has voted to temporarily grant you Level 5 clearance," she declared, handing him a new black identification card, "and you will report to me personally. Keep the cards close the vest on this one - potentially anyone could be involved."

"Moscow Rule number three, ma'am," Harper observed with a wry smile. Everyone is potentially under opposition control. "If I may, why are you trusting me with this? I know I'm not a conspirator, but you don't."

"You're one of the best see-eye guys we have, Mr. Harper, and you have been cleared for the highest security clearance known to mankind. The possibility that you are involved is remote, and in any case I expect regular and detailed reports of all your findings. If I find out you're withholding things from me, I will bring the full force of the resources at my disposal upon you. You will spend the remainder of your days in the deepest, darkest, least pleasant hole I can find," the Foundation Overseer stated calmly. Then she flashed a smile that was clearly meant to be disarming but instead made the hair on Harper's neck stand on end. "But I don't expect that to be a problem, Mr. Harper."

"No, ma'am," Harper said.

"Excellent! If there is anything you need, let me know," Seven beamed. "You may brief in Mr. Muir and Ms. Daniel if you believe their assistance would be helpful, but do keep the cards close to the vest."

"Of course," Harper replied.

"Thank you. That will be all," she said. Harper wasted no time leaving the room.

"That's all we have," Harper finished the run-down, putting the folder down on his desk and looking across at Muir and Monica.

"Hm," Muir grunted. "For a moment there, Tim, I thought we were going to have trouble with this one." He pulled out his reading glasses and started thumbing through the folder.

Monica failed at hiding her alarm. "Do we always have so little to go on?" she asked. "How do we even know where to start?"

Monica read off the relevant sheet of paper, "Looks like the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution; Baasch Engineering Corporation; the Chaos Insurgency; the Church of the Broken God; the Factory; the Foundation; the Global Occult Coalition; Hunting Arms, Inc.; Marshal, Carter, and Dark; Prometheus Labs; the Serpent's Hand; Saito Mining Industries; Wallace Security Enterprises; Dr. Wondertainment; and various branches of the American, British, Chinese, French, German, and Soviet governments. That's all based on documents recovered in the warehouse raid." She looked up, "How the hell did someone manage to penetrate essentially all the major commercial, political, and paranormal groups without somebody noticing? How is this the first we've heard of it?"

Harper lit a cigarette. "Well," he said thoughtfully, "just because they had documents - even top level documents - related to all those organizations doesn't mean they managed have moles in all of them. And even if they do have moles with access to such sensitive materials, that doesn't mean the moles are in a position to do much beyond steal documents. Monica, what's your security clearance?"

"And yet you have access to some truly sensitive information," Muir observed, not taking his eyes off the document he was reading. "Such as this investigation."

"Precisely," Harper continued. "These are, for the most part, groups employing hundreds to tens of thousands of people. It only takes one traitor."

"So how do we know what the opposition wants?" asked Monica.

Harper smiled, "We don't - yet. But one does not simply invest the resources necessary to penetrate so many powerful organizations on a whim. We shall find out soon enough."

Monica frowned. "This still doesn't give us a starting point."

"Perhaps this does," Muir said. He began quoting the page he was reading: "'According to Foundation personnel embedded within the Scottish constabulary, the explosion is consistent with detonation of a small but powerful explosive device. Preliminary chemical testing of explosive residue suggests the use of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX), two of the primary ingredients in Semtex-H. However, the size and location of the original explosion relative to the quantities of PETN and RDX found, coupled with the complete incineration of both the diplomatic pouch carried by Robert McDonnell and McDonnell himself, suggests Semtex was not, in fact, the explosive used. It is recommended Foundation investigative staff examine the possibility of SCP objects or other as-yet uncontained anomalies as the source of the explosion."

"Just what we needed, Troy," Harper said. "Monica, go down to Archives and have them pull all the files on anomalous objects and entities capable of causing explosions. Be sure to include the ones presently in containment; we can't rule out a theft."

"On it," she said, leaving.

Harper turned to Muir, "Any indications on the explosion in Manchester?"

Muir nodded, "Looks like that actually was Semtex. The police have linked it chemically to several attacks by the Irish Republican Army."

"The IRA? Could it really just be a coincidence?" Harper frowned, lighting a fresh cigarette.

Muir shook his head. "No way," he said. "The match was far too easy - it was an older batch with a composition more useful for demolition than killing. Great if you want to destroy papers in a safe, but not as useful for inflicting human casualties. It also doesn't match their usual MO, since Carnegie was prominently Catholic. I suspect we were just meant to believe they did it."

"Interesting," Harper said, taking a long blow on his cigarette. "Very interesting."

Leads

As it turned out, the Foundation contained rather a lot of different objects which could explode or ignite. Exploding cacti, exploding ink, an exploding eyeball - the stack of files Monica had carried up from Archives took the three of them most of the morning to read. The tiny room, always cramped and cluttered, quickly became nearly impossible to move about in as they sifted through the towering heaps of papers.

Just before lunch, Monica found something. "Hey, listen to this: a chest of coins, each capable of detonating with the force of five megajoules. They're linked to an atlas which can used to detonate the coins."

Muir and Harper got up and looked over her shoulder. "Does the report have a chemical analysis?" Harper asked.

"'For analysis of explosive residue signature, see Addendum 5'," Monica quoted. "Where did that - ah! Here we go." She snatched up the relevant page.

Muir laid it alongside the forensic report from the plane bombing. "Looks like a rough match to me," he said. "The file's analysis dates back to the fifties, so even if this is a perfect match it might not line up perfectly."

Harper nodded, "Definitely the best option so far. Good catch, Monica." The intern beamed. He continued, "So, where is this thing contained?"

"Yeah. We don't have it," Muir said. "It was stored in the Trinidad site back in fifty-nine." Harper swore under his breath.

"What happened to the Trinidad site in fifty-nine?" Monica asked.

"In a word," Muir explained, "Castro. He nationalized the Foundation's research site in Trinidad. The staff resisted and were executed - save one researcher who managed to get away by sheer dumb luck. Ended up in "

"And we let Castro get away with this?!" Monica asked. She had no illusions about the Foundation's track record when it came to ruthlessness.

Muir shook his head, "You're assuming what made it to the history books is what actually happened. We'd originally planned to attack Trinidad directly. American State Department didn't want to play ball, so the invasion landing site had to be moved. We still sent Foundation forces to Trinidad. Didn't manage to retrieve anything, but both Castro and Marshal, Carter, and Dark got the message."

Monica was confused, "MC&D was involved?"

"Castro tried to sell them the contents of the Trinidad site," Harper explained. "They absconded with the items without paying Castro after Foundation forces crashed the party."

"He was pissed," Muir observed. "We still get reports of Cuban troops in Soviet-backed states killing people associated with the club."

"Between the combined fury of the Foundation and Castro, it actually drove MC&D to ground for over a decade," Harper finished. "So the Foundation decided the whole mess was a 'successful failure.'"

"So, do we know where this chest of coins is now?" Monica asked.

"Not exactly," Muir said. "Marshall, Carter, and Dark isn't exactly on good terms with the Foundation, and we've not ever been able to get a good source on the inside. I've heard the GOC has had a little more success, but I don't know for certain. I could put out feelers with some of my contacts at the GOC, but they'll want something in return." The world of intelligence was a strange place: despite the generally frosty relationship between the GOC and the Foundation, both organization's intelligence branches occasionally shared information about mutual threats. Neither side trusted the other, of course, but the quid pro quo of intelligence-sharing had proven helpful to both sides on numerous occasions.

"You do that, Troy," Harper said. "In the mean time, Monica, keep digging through things here. I'm going to track down the surviving researcher from Trinidad."

The only physically remarkable thing about him was his limp and cane. These, of course, were unavoidable for a man whose right leg was artificial from his knee down. Beyond that, he was of intermediate height, had thinning brown hair, and brown eyes. He was the sort of man that you'd forget having seen five minutes later, if not for his limp and cane. He missed the fieldwork, but he was too easy to identify now.

Muir hobbled into the Smithsonian Natural History Museum's National Gem Collection. It was a good meeting spot, and he never got tired of looking at the gemstones. He was standing before a beautiful piece of amethyst several feet in height when he heard a low voice behind him, "Nice shade of purple, isn't it?"

Without turning, Muir replied, "Indeed. I was always jealous of those with February birthdays."

"I'm sure you know one of the six birthdays we have on file for you is in February. How's the wife, Troy?" Special Agent Granger, Global Occult Coalition asked.

"Gladys and I have separated," Muir responded evenly. "I'm sure you knew that, though, just like how you know all the birthdays in your file on me are wrong. How's your son, Harry?"

"Looking forward to Christmas," Granger replied. "Wants Lego. Again." Muir grunted. "So, Troy, what can I do for you?"

The two men started down the gallery. "You've sprung a leak," Muir said. "Foundation forces found information classified Level Q in a raid on a non-aligned building day before yesterday."

Granger's training quickly erased the alarm from his face, before responding, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because whomever penetrated you also managed to get access to all the major players, including the Foundation," Muir replied. "We also believe they brought down the Pan Am flight in Lockerbie. Took out all the documents we recovered, and also hit the repository where we stored the backups. Otherwise, I'd be able to tell you what they had on the GOC."

Granger let out a low whistle. "Any leads?" he asked.

"We're working on that, and we need your help," Muir answered. "The Coalition has always had better sources at MC&D than the Foundation. We think they either have, or sold, the object responsible for taking down the plane." He handed Granger a sheet of paper with the Global Occult Coalition's KTE, or 'Known Threat Entity', designation for the object.

Pocketing the paper, the GOC Agent nodded. "I'll have to run this up the chain, Troy."

"Thanks, Harry," Muir said. "If this pans out, I'd consider us even."

"Thanks, but one file on one item handled by that damn club? That would hardly square us. This'll take care of the one I owe you for Uganda. I still owe you a favor for Fiji," Granger observed.

"Well, I'm not going to object to a GOC Agent telling me he still owes me a favor," Muir chuckled. "Have a good holiday."

"You too," Granger said. With that, the two men went their separate ways.

Sandbox for Gears/Hornby collaboration on Foundation interactions with governments.

Drafts in Progress

Special Agent Logan Kyle's stomach rumbled. The Secret Service agent assigned to the President's National Security Advisor, he was standing outside his principal's office. VADM Poindexter was late leaving - unusual, since today was a Friday, and the Admiral prefered to eat supper with his wife and sons.

A plain-looking middle-aged man in a slightly rumpled suit walked into the corridor from the West Wing lobby entrance. His White House Staff ID card named him as "Dr. James Johnson, Special Advisor to the President". That's funny, Kyle thought. I thought I knew all the President's Special Advisors.

"I need to speak with Admiral Poindexter," said Dr. Johnson quietly. "It is a matter of some urgency." The Admiral was alone in his office, so Kyle let him past.

Two minutes later, Poindexter marched out of his office, Dr. Johnson in tow. "We're going to see the Boss," the President's National Security Advisor told Kyle.

"England is headed to see Rawhide," Kyle said into his radio, using Poindexter's and the President's codenames. He followed the two officials down the hallway to the Oval Office.

"John, Dr. James," the President said in greeting, ushering them inside. Special Agent Kyle remained outside - the President's own detail would keep watch inside the office.

"You know what's up, Logan?" one of the other agents standing outside the Oval Office asked.

"Haven't a clue, Dave," Kyle replied. "You see the game last night?"

"Dodgers against the Braves?" Dave replied. "No, my daughter's school play was last night. Heard it was quite the game."

Poindexter's meeting with the President and the mysterious Dr. Johnson lasted a short ten minutes. Emerging from the Oval Office, the National Security Advisor and Special Advisor to the President went their separate ways. Kyle followed his principal. "Sir," Kyle said, "if you don't mind me asking, who was that?"

"Dr. Johnson?" Admiral Poindexter replied, glancing over his shoulder. "He's the Special Advisor to the President."

"I thought I knew all the President's advisors and their deputies and assistants, but I didn't recognize him. Is he new?" Kyle asked as they reached Poindexter's office.

"No, son, he's old," the National Security Advisor grunted. "Been around since the Roosevelt administration. Only drops by when there's real trouble, like what's going on in Ukraine right now." Poindexter started to close his office door.

This confused Kyle - something was going on in Ukraine? Putting aside that thought, as it wasn't his job to worry about such things, he asked about the other more confusing part of his principal's answer: "Sir, you're saying there's a Presidential advisor who's been on staff since FDR was President? That was over forty years ago."

Interactions between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Chaos Insurgency.

Just a Simple Test

The reasoning behind the ill-fated test that led to Chernobyl.

Special Advisor to the President

How the Foundation contacts the President.

General Brainstorming

For all that other stuff that doesn't fit in a specific story.

Some thoughts on characters:

Here's a list of possible Foundation members to have interacting with the various world leaders. I'm thinking it might be interesting to have the same characters, all Colonels (or equivalent) or civilian PhDs, all in their mid forties, appearing inexplicably again and again separated by decades as the advisor to the leaders of the same country.

Standartenführer Fredrick Schäfer

Special SS Advisor to the Führer

Appears in "Already Cluttered Gameboard" (1941)

Polikovnik Ivan Nikolaiovich Morozov

Special NKVD/KGB Advisor to the

Appears in both "Already Cluttered Gameboard" (1941) and "Just a Simple Test" (1986)

Rough Rider

The Foundation and Theodore Roosevelt.

Given the differences in personality between William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, I could easily picture TR being more inclined to work with the Foundation than McKinley. Also, many of the (corrupt) Republican leaders did not like Roosevelt, which is why Thomas C. Platt, the Republican Party boss for New York state, had Roosevelt put on the McKinley presidential ticket. The reasoning was that with him as Vice President, he would be largely incapable of doing anything to the political machines. This of course fell apart when McKinley died. In any case, TR's stint as VP was an effort to get him out of the way politically - an effort the Foundation could theoretically have opposed for whatever reason.

Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy between April 1897 and May 1898. Secretary John D. Long was inactive, so TR basically ran the Department of the Navy. Most (in)famously, ten days after the battleship Maine exploded in Havana, Long left for a massage, and Roosevelt became Acting Secretary for four hours. Roosevelt told the Navy worldwide to prepare for war, ordered ammunition and supplies, brought in experts, and went to Congress asking for authority to recruit as many sailors as he wanted, thus moving the nation toward war. Perhaps the Spanish-American War was fought at behest of the Foundation? Perhaps the Foundation sank the Maine to incite war for their own purposes? If this was the case, perhaps the Foundation had something to do with getting TR on the 1900 Republican ticket? (Yeah, I know this is in contradiction to my above thought, but I'm thinking as I write.)

Possible connection between Roosevelt's actions to push the United States to war with Spain (over Cuba) and the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion a half century later?

Already Cluttered Gameboard

The Foundation and the Second World War.

Underneath WWII, a second war almost erupted. The Foundation suddenly found itself jutting up against a budding “Foundation” being nurtured under the SS and Himmler. I'd love to see something between various world leaders, The Foundation, and maybe one or two other groups as they work out how to keep “an already cluttered game board from falling apart.”

I like this idea. Of course, alternate!WWII is one of the most over-done alternate history things, so treading carefully is a must.

I make some mention to the war behind the war in SCP-1050; though I see no reason to change that article as it is at +90~, I'd be fine if we appropriated that for use or reference.

So, who would our players be for this one? Foundation, obviously. GOC didn't exist yet (and I don't think we should try and make this an origin story, but something which established the world stage out of which it came might be interesting). MC&D would be closely aligned with the British, I would think, given their geographic and political base. I don't know when the Serpent's Hand first appeared on the scene, but they might be an agent of chaos which for reasons never explained tried to upset both the overt and covert WWII gameboards. UIU wouldn't have existed yet, but I could see some G-men being involved at Hoover's personal request (for that matter, I could see Hoover being fully aware of the Foundation's existence). IRG didn't come around until later.

Historical entities we could have involved in the secret war…

Well, Himmler was interested in the occult (Hitler wasn't really), so the SS could have had a secret unit. Put it under a fictional Standartenfuhrer (Colonel analog)? Perhaps have interactions with Otto Skorzeny (though he's well enough documented that he should not run it). Also, looking into Dr. Josef Rudolf Mengele would be in order (I only know of him by reputation, not by specifics).

There's the Manhattan Project. I have the Mitrohiken archive book, which details what the Soviet NKVD was doing to steal the secrets from the Americans. That could be an interesting bit running at times in tandem and at times at cross purposes to the Foundation.

There's all that horrific stuff done by various special units in the Imperial Japanese Army in the Pacific. Don't really know much about that, but it's an option.

Allies vs. Axis (overt WWII), various GOIs vs. various aligned secret organizations (SS, Manhattan Project, NKVD, etc.). Then have the Foundation just trying to keep things from completely falling apart - sort of the way Britain acted as "balancer" in international politics during the 19th and early 20th centuries. I think this is the most interesting option, as it would have the Foundation simply want to keep securing, containing, and protecting its anomalies, but being forced into involving itself more in politics and the day-to-day of world events than it would have liked.

I see The Foundation in a totally center-of-the-board pose, much to everyone's frustration. Even some of the things they have under lock and key could end the war in a matter of days, but that's not in any way their job. Nothing so far has endangered humanity as a whole in any real, serious way, so they have no reason to do anything. I could see an Agent more or less stating that a little "pruning" via war is actually a rather good thing, in the long run. MC&D obviously would be on the English side of things, if only for tradition's sake, and not at all above working with the Germans now and then. GOC was probably in it's infancy at this point, so not a real player…maybe the Church as well? Serpent's Hand is probably only worried about someone ACTUALLY stumbling on to real occult power somehow, but is more active then The Foundation in this.

I think that would boil down to two big scenes, one axis, one allies. Each trying to win over The Foundation, and advance their own goals at the same time. Something to think about.

Playa Girón

The real reasoning behind the ill-fated Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Possible connection between Roosevelt's actions to push the United States to war with Spain (over Cuba) and the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion a half century later?

The Bay of Pigs wasn't a real military action, but a feint made to cover a Foundation action. Castro had accidentally gotten hold of something nasty, and was wanting to get it the hell out of his country. It quickly became a race to the finish, to see which group was going to grab it first. The invasion was to keep eyes off of the area where the action went down, in case things went…bad.

Historical truth: What eventually became known as the "Bay of Pigs Invasion" was originally neither planned to land at the Bay of Pigs, nor was it originally intended as an invasion. The idea dated back to 17 March 1960, when Eisenhower approved a document drawn up by the 5412 Committee, with the objective of "the purpose of the program outlined herein is to bring about the replacement of the Castro regime with one more devoted to the true interests of the Cuban people and more acceptable to the U.S. in such a manner to avoid any appearance of U.S. intervention." When the amphibious assault was initially planned, the target was Trinidad, Cuba.

Fast forward to 28 Jan 1961, when President Kennedy was briefed on the latest plan, Operation Pluto. One thousand cuban expats were to be landed in a ship-born invasion at Trinidad, about 270 km southeast of Havana, at the foothills of the Escambray Mountains. Kennedy authorized this; Trinidad had good port facilities, was close to many existing counter-revolutionary activities, had a beachhead which was easily defensible, and the guerrillas could escape into the Escambray Mountains if anything went wrong (whereat they could exist indediffinitely with aerial resupply). The State Department vetoed Trinidad. CIA then proposed an alternative, Operation Zapata, which moved the landing sites to the Bay of Pigs. Long story short, the invasion took place (and failed) in April 1961.

What If: Perhaps the Foundation hijacked the invasion for its own purposes, forcing Kennedy's hand into changing the location, along with everything else that caused the operation to fail? Perhaps the "something nasty" was in or near the city of Trinidad? CIA also attempted some rediculously large number of attempts at killing Castro - everything from spiked cigars to exploding seashells. Obviously, nothing worked; in fact, the failures were so embarrasing that they were the reason President Ford banned the US government from participating in assassinations. Perhaps the Foundation found itself having to protect Castro for whatever reason (potentially without Castro's knowledge)?

On the castro side of things…i see MC&D being more likely to be the ones covering castro's ass then The Foundation. Maybe he (or a relation) is a club member, and is keeping him well covered. Meanwhile, MC&D is doing brisk business in and through Cuba, which is starting to chafe The Foundation. In my head canon, at this point The Foundation still has close US military ties, so they decide to try and direct an offensive in the hopes of disrupting operations. It fails, but it does send MC&D to ground, and sends what will become a long-standing message: The Foundation wants the Veil maintained. If you fuck with the Veil, there's little they won't do to try and fix it.

Nobody's Puppet

Interactions between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Chaos Insurgency.

North Korea's mildly insane break with the national scene and continued military stance is due to heavy involvement by a group of interest, possibly the GOC or Chaos Insurgency. They were promised…well, a lot, and while the country is bled out for manpower, subjects, and anything else they need, they keep stringing along the leadership with trinkets.

Not sure where to go with this one. Interesting idea, in the abstract, and would seem to fit the Chaos Insurgency nicely. Just not sure of the hook. Perhaps something to do with the bombardment of Yeonpyeong back in Nov 2010?

For Korea…maybe it's something a bit sinister. The Chaos Insurgency approaches some key players, offering all the old trinkets (money, power, so on…) in return for, basically, letting them call a lot of shots from behind the scenes. It's been in the works for a while, and even with it being a pretty insane thing to do, it hasn't really been enough to trigger any of the other groups to try and do anything about it. Until, maybe, an incident in Yeonpyeong?

Just a Simple Test

The reasoning behind the ill-fated test that led to Chernobyl.

I have a wonderful nonfiction book called The Truth About Chernobyl, by Gregori Medvedev. It goes into a minute by minute (and at times second by second) account of what happened at Chernobyl. This could be an interesting event to consider appropriating for our own means as well.

Actually, here's the fun (and also horrifying, and also true) thing about the Chernobyl disaster:

They were in the process of doing a scheduled shutdown of Reactor 4 (the one that detonated). During this, they were doing a test relating to continuing to generate power from the steam turbine while letting the reactor run down. Problem was, they deviated from the authorized procedure for running the test. Among other things, they deliberately turned off a lot of the failsafes (the reactor design in question had fewer failsafes than most Western designs, but it still had some, which they turned off). And it's not entirely clear why the fellows supervising the procedure chose to deviate. The official reports (in typical Soviet fashion) did more CYA than actually explaining why things went the way they did. These individuals also died soon thereafter of radiation poisoning, taking whatever their full motivations to the grave.

That's the historical truth, at least as best I remember it. The Wikipedia article on the Chernobyl disaster has more; its accuracy is passable.

Anyway, I should think that it would be truly terrifying if the "real" reason that the operators deviated from the plan was either at the behest of the Foundation (or a GoI), or in response to their own attempts to contain something. I think it would be an interesting take to assume that all available historical evidence on the Chernobyl case is truthful, but it is also incomplete. And the Foundation, conveniently enough, has some or all of the missing evidence.

Message 2:

I do not have anything in particular in mind, just random thoughts and brainstorming:

Why McKinley / why not Kennedy?

Every conspiracy theorist and their uncle has a theory about what "really" happened to JFK. I'm hesitant to suggest the Foundation offed him, mainly because that'd seem almost cliche. Also, I would almost find it more amusing (in a dark, twisted way) if the Foundation basically responded "Don't look at us - we got along with the guy!" when the US government investigated.

The details of the JFK assassination (and/or at least the most popular incorrect details) are widely known among people who aren't generally students of history. McKinley's assassination? Not so much.

Given the differences in personality between William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, I could easily picture TR being more inclined to work with the Foundation than McKinley. Also, many of the (corrupt) Republican leaders did not like Roosevelt, which is why Thomas C. Platt, the Republican Party boss for New York state, had Roosevelt put on the McKinley presidential ticket. The reasoning was that with him as Vice President, he would be largely incapable of doing anything to the political machines. This of course fell apart when McKinley died. In any case, TR's stint as VP was an effort to get him out of the way politically - an effort the Foundation could theoretically have opposed for whatever reason.

Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy between April 1897 and May 1898. Secretary John D. Long was inactive, so TR basically ran the Department of the Navy. Most (in)famously, ten days after the battleship Maine exploded in Havana, Long left for a massage, and Roosevelt became Acting Secretary for four hours. Roosevelt told the Navy worldwide to prepare for war, ordered ammunition and supplies, brought in experts, and went to Congress asking for authority to recruit as many sailors as he wanted, thus moving the nation toward war. Perhaps the Spanish-American War was fought at behest of the Foundation? Perhaps the Foundation sank the Maine to incite war for their own purposes? If this was the case, perhaps the Foundation had something to do with getting TR on the 1900 Republican ticket? (Yeah, I know this is in contradiction to my above thought, but I'm thinking as I write.)

Reasons why not McKinley:

There aren't many disasters in the US that happened shortly before McKinley's assassination. The only one I can find perusing Wikipedia would be the Great Fire of 1901. Haven't a clue what to say that was covering up.

My historical knowledge of the 1890-1910 period is not all that encyclopedic. It's not a period I've spent much time researching for fun or academics. Don't know how well you know it, though, and I'm not scared off by doing research for this sort of thing.

I know a lot about this history of American intelligence (being a political science / international relations major who just finished up his senior thesis on intelligence analysis a little over a week ago). I have no trouble talking at length about what the US intelligence community and military were up to between World War Two and now - nor do I have difficulty faking history in that time period with some reasonable level of verisimilitude. The McKinley/Roosevelt era would be out of my element, though.

One other thought: Wouldn't it be more impressive for the Foundation to be able to successfully rig an American election than for it to be able to kill a President? It's known almost axiomatically within the intelligence and security communities that killing a public figure isn't all that hard - it's getting away with it that's difficult. Throwing an election, without appearing to do so, especially in a country like the United States, now that is hard. Just a thought.

So, I'm not sure where to go with all this, but that's what I have at the moment.

Message 3:

I like this idea. TR was an amazing person, and i could see him being approached by The Foundation, and being rather responsive to it. I like your angle, for a lot of reasons…if you like, i can maybe cook up a little outline…give me a day or so, i'll see if anything leaps to mind, but i've already got a little bit of a hazy framework, i think…

Message 5:

I have an idea. Bascially, a sequence of small scenes. Each is a meeting with The Foundation, or other major Groups Of Intrest, fiddling about with world affairs. That's not to say they're always playing at making or breaking rulers, but just various incidents that, while appearing "normal" on the top, are much stranger underneath. Major world events , and even some very minor ones, are actually the end results of various moves and actions of these groups. No, the world is not ruled or moved by them…but, in maybe 5% of cases, there's a hidden hand at work.

Message 6:

I like these ideas - let me stew a bit on them and I'll reply relating to your above suggestions in greater detail later.

I'm wondering how we want to tell the stories (from whose perspective, I mean). I'd hesitate to make the President himself the viewpoint character, but I like the idea of it being a non-Foundation person. Perhaps a "Special Advisor to the President"? White House Staff is 1700 odd people, if memory serves. I mean, nothing says we have to have a specific viewpoint character, but I rather prefer that style to having a transcript of recordings like spike did in the Cold Harper Nixon meeting tale.

Alternatively, we might put a liaison from the Foundation on the permanent staff at the White House. Maybe the same character being a fixture at the White House across decades and administrations? I can just imagine an amused discussion between mid-level staffers circa say, Reagan, coming into office.

Message 7:

I like that idea, of a "advisor" that is just kind of…there. No office, no real title…just a guy who's in the office, now and then.

as for viewpoint, i think outside observer is a great idea. Just an aid or someone sitting in on the meeting…

Message 8:

Okay, longer response now:

The Bay of Pigs wasn't a real military action, but a feint made to cover a Foundation action. Castro had accidentally gotten hold of something nasty, and was wanting to get it the hell out of his country. It quickly became a race to the finish, to see which group was going to grab it first. The invasion was to keep eyes off of the area where the action went down, in case things went…bad.

Historical truth: What eventually became known as the "Bay of Pigs Invasion" was originally neither planned to land at the Bay of Pigs, nor was it originally intended as an invasion. The idea dated back to 17 March 1960, when Eisenhower approved a document drawn up by the 5412 Committee, with the objective of "the purpose of the program outlined herein is to bring about the replacement of the Castro regime with one more devoted to the true interests of the Cuban people and more acceptable to the U.S. in such a manner to avoid any appearance of U.S. intervention." When the amphibious assault was initially planned, the target was Trinidad, Cuba.

Fast forward to 28 Jan 1961, when President Kennedy was briefed on the latest plan, Operation Pluto. One thousand cuban expats were to be landed in a ship-born invasion at Trinidad, about 270 km southeast of Havana, at the foothills of the Escambray Mountains. Kennedy authorized this; Trinidad had good port facilities, was close to many existing counter-revolutionary activities, had a beachhead which was easily defensible, and the guerrillas could escape into the Escambray Mountains if anything went wrong (whereat they could exist indediffinitely with aerial resupply). The State Department vetoed Trinidad. CIA then proposed an alternative, Operation Zapata, which moved the landing sites to the Bay of Pigs. Long story short, the invasion took place (and failed) in April 1961.

What If: Perhaps the Foundation hijacked the invasion for its own purposes, forcing Kennedy's hand into changing the location, along with everything else that caused the operation to fail? Perhaps the "something nasty" was in or near the city of Trinidad? CIA also attempted some rediculously large number of attempts at killing Castro - everything from spiked cigars to exploding seashells. Obviously, nothing worked; in fact, the failures were so embarrasing that they were the reason President Ford banned the US government from participating in assassinations. Perhaps the Foundation found itself having to protect Castro for whatever reason (potentially without Castro's knowledge)?

North Korea's mildly insane break with the national scene and continued military stance is due to heavy involvement by a group of interest, possibly the GOC or Chaos Insurgency. They were promised…well, a lot, and while the country is bled out for manpower, subjects, and anything else they need, they keep stringing along the leadership with trinkets.

Not sure where to go with this one. Interesting idea, in the abstract, and would seem to fit the Chaos Insurgency nicely. Just not sure of the hook. Perhaps something to do with the bombardment of Yeonpyeong back in Nov 2010?

Underneath WWII, a second war almost erupted. The Foundation suddenly found itself jutting up against a budding “Foundation” being nurtured under the SS and Himmler. At least two of the death camps were meant not for the eradication of jews and undesirables, but for the disposal of the “D-class” for this group, which they were using up like tissue paper due to the somewhat…open research policy. I'd love to see something between various world leaders, The Foundation, and maybe one or two other groups as they work out how to keep “an already cluttered game board from falling apart.”

I like this idea. Of course, alternate!WWII is one of the most over-done alternate history things, so treading carefully is a must.

I make some mention to the war behind the war in SCP-1050; though I see no reason to change that article as it is at +90~, I'd be fine if we appropriated that for use or reference.

D-class death camps. This would rather be the third rail, so to speak. While I have no qualms about illiciting reactions from readers that range from horror to disgust, I think doing this would take delicate handling. Flame wars and all that. Yes, I know that the Foundation is often times no better than the Nazis were when it comes to D-class. However, the Holocaust really happened, while the wiki invented D-class. That said, I could see Hitler and Himmler having an argument, with Himmler wanting to divert more undesirables for experiments while Hitler just wanted them dead. Also, looking into Dr. Josef Rudolf Mengele would be in order (I only know of him by reputation, not by specifics).

So, who would our players be for this one? Foundation, obviously. GOC didn't exist yet (and I don't think we should try and make this an origin story, but something which established the world stage out of which it came might be interesting). MC&D would be closely aligned with the British, I would think, given their geographic and political base. I don't know when the Serpent's Hand first appeared on the scene, but they might be an agent of chaos which for reasons never explained tried to upset both the overt and covert WWII gameboards. UIU wouldn't have existed yet, but I could see some G-men being involved at Hoover's personal request (for that matter, I could see Hoover being fully aware of the Foundation's existence). IRG didn't come around until later.

Historical entities we could have involved in the secret war…

Well, Himmler was interested in the occult (Hitler wasn't really), so the SS could have had a secret unit. Put it under a fictional Standartenfuhrer (Colonel analog)? Perhaps have interactions with Otto Skorzeny (though he's well enough documented that he should not run it).

There's the Manhattan Project. I have the Mitrohiken archive book, which details what the Soviet NKVD was doing to steal the secrets from the Americans. That could be an interesting bit running at times in tandem and at times at cross purposes to the Foundation.

There's all that horrific stuff done by various special units in the Imperial Japanese Army in the Pacific. Don't really know much about that, but it's an option.

So, I see three ways of setting up the gameboard. In order from least to most intriguing:

Option 1: Put the Foundation squarely on either the Axis or Allied side. This is a bad plan from a story perspective, as it is the most cliched.

Option 2: Allies vs. Axis (overt WWII) and Foundation vs. various (covert WWII). The Foundation and its opposition are not consistently aligned with one side or the other. This could be interesting, but writing out enough detail to do this justice would be hard.

Option 3: Allies vs. Axis (overt WWII), various GOIs vs. various aligned secret organizations (SS, Manhattan Project, NKVD, etc.). Then have the Foundation just trying to keep things from completely falling apart - sort of the way Britain acted as "balancer" in international politics during the 19th and early 20th centuries. I think this is the most interesting option, as it would have the Foundation simply want to keep securing, containing, and protecting its anomalies, but being forced into involving itself more in politics and the day-to-day of world events than it would have liked.

A major earthquake being covered up after a breach event, and other major/minor disasters being glossed over.

Have you by any chance read the book What If? The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been, edited by Robert Cowley? It's quite good.

As far as traps go, I generally find the best alternate history assumes only minor and plausible points of divergence. These can have major ramifications, but the events need to be plausible and follow logically from the changes.

Also, while readers generally will assume "reality except where noted", I find it to be best to have most of the specific details given in a work of this sort to be either real or grounded in reality. I mean, I like soft science fiction as much as the next guy, don't get me wrong, but if I'm trying to write something where the audience is expected to believe "hey, maybe this is real", then I want to make it so that when they go and look at Wikipedia about the actual real world event on which I'm basing my story, my facts check out.

I have a wonderful nonfiction book called The Truth About Chernobyl, by Gregori Medvedev. It goes into a minute by minute (and at times second by second) account of what happened at Chernobyl. This could be an interesting event to consider appropriating for our own means as well.

So, that's what I have.

Message 9:

All this sounds really good so far. I'm not as deeply rooted on the history side of things as i'd like to be, and you seem…well versed, to say the least, so i'll kneel to your judgement on most of the points here.

On the castro side of things…i see MC&D being more likely to be the ones covering castro's ass then The Foundation. Maybe he (or a relation) is a club member, and is keeping him well covered. Meanwhile, MC&D is doing brisk business in and through Cuba, which is starting to chafe The Foundation. In my head canon, at this point The Foundation still has close US military ties, so they decide to try and direct an offensive in the hopes of disrupting operations. It fails, but it does send MC&D to ground, and sends what will become a long-standing message: The Foundation wants the Veil maintained. If you fuck with the Veil, there's little they won't do to try and fix it.

For Korea…maybe it's something a bit sinister. The Chaos Insurgency approaches some key players, offering all the old trinkets (money, power, so on…) in return for, basically, letting them call a lot of shots from behind the scenes. It's been in the works for a while, and even with it being a pretty insane thing to do, it hasn't really been enough to trigger any of the other groups to try and do anything about it. Until, maybe, an incident in Yeonpyeong?

WWII alt history is hard to keep fresh, i know. The D-class bit is probably better tossed, it's true. I see The Foundation in a totally center-of-the-board pose, much to everyone's frustration. Even some of the things they have under lock and key could end the war in a matter of days, but that's not in any way their job. Nothing so far has endangered humanity as a whole in any real, serious way, so they have no reason to do anything. I could see an Agent more or less stating that a little "pruning" via war is actually a rather good thing, in the long run. MC&D obviously would be on the English side of things, if only for tradition's sake, and not at all above working with the Germans now and then. GOC was probably in it's infancy at this point, so not a real player…maybe the Church as well? Serpent's Hand is probably only worried about someone ACTUALLY stumbling on to real occult power somehow, but is more active then The Foundation in this.

I think that would boil down to two big scenes, one axis, one allies. Each trying to win over The Foundation, and advance their own goals at the same time. Something to think about.

I'd love to see a bit of Foundation-related meddling with Chernobyl. The obvious idea is that the meltdown wasn't all that much of a meltdown, but a site-sealing last resort action after a major breach.

think on it, let me know!

Message 10:

I'd love to see a bit of Foundation-related meddling with Chernobyl. The obvious idea is that the meltdown wasn't all that much of a meltdown, but a site-sealing last resort action after a major breach.

Actually, here's the fun (and also horrifying, and also true) thing about the Chernobyl disaster:

They were in the process of doing a scheduled shutdown of Reactor 4 (the one that detonated). During this, they were doing a test relating to continuing to generate power from the steam turbine while letting the reactor run down. Problem was, they deviated from the authorized procedure for running the test. Among other things, they deliberately turned off a lot of the failsafes (the reactor design in question had fewer failsafes than most Western designs, but it still had some, which they turned off). And it's not entirely clear why the fellows supervising the procedure chose to deviate. The official reports (in typical Soviet fashion) did more CYA than actually explaining why things went the way they did. These individuals also died soon thereafter of radiation poisoning, taking whatever their full motivations to the grave.

That's the historical truth, at least as best I remember it. The Wikipedia article on the Chernobyl disaster has more; its accuracy is passable.

Anyway, I should think that it would be truly terrifying if the "real" reason that the operators deviated from the plan was either at the behest of the Foundation (or a GoI), or in response to their own attempts to contain something. I think it would be an interesting take to assume that all available historical evidence on the Chernobyl case is truthful, but it is also incomplete. And the Foundation, conveniently enough, has some or all of the missing evidence.

Scratch Pad for Formatting

Special Containment Procedures:SCP-1973-J has been neutralized. All known instances of SCP-976-J have been neutralized. In the event of a future discovery of an instance of SCP-976-J, they are to be neutralized by any means necessary.

For previous containment protocols, see Addendum 1.

Description: SCP-976-J was a stone statue of an anthropomorphized Scalopus aquaticus standing on a pile of earth holding a shovel. A Prometheus Labs, Inc. logo was printed on the underside of the statue.

SCP-976-J was able to teleport by methods unknown. Though teleportation of distances up to one kilometer were observed, 98.7% of recorded “jumps” fell within a normalized distribution of ten meters (with a two meter standard deviation). Jumps occurred at apparently random intervals, but never more frequently than once per thirty minutes.

If/when SCP-976-J was dealt major physical damage which would otherwise destroy a similar statue, it would jump between one and ten minutes after receiving the damage, reappearing elsewhere fully repaired. For details on destruction attempts, see Addendum 2.

SCP-976-J appeared at Site 11 on ██/██/1989. After repeated attempts to transfer the statue to alternate locations failed and the object repeatedly appeared in sensitive areas containing classified documents, it was deemed a probable surveillance device and approved for destruction on ██/██/1990. Despite the Prometheus Labs origin, it is unknown whether that organization is responsible for SCP-976-J's appearance at Site 11, or whether persons unknown were using their product to conduct surveillance against the Foundation.

Attempts at neutralization, performed at Site 11’s Secure Annex, were hampered both by SCP-976-J’s repeated attempts to return to Site 11 and its capacity for self-repair.

SCP-976-J was finally neutralized on ██/██/1997.

Addendum 1: Former Special Containment Protocols For SCP-976-J

SCP-976-J is to be kept in a standard Euclid-rated containment safe with sufficient interior volume to hold it.

Procedures deemed insufficient after SCP-976-J simply teleported to sit on top of the safe.

SCP-976-J is to be kept within a custom containment safe created with the "Very Fine" setting of SCP-914.

Procedures deemed insufficient after SCP-976-J simply teleported to sit on top of the safe.

SCP-976-J is to be kept in the center of a standard containment room no smaller than thirteen (13) meters wide by thirteen (13) meters long. Constant video surveillance is to be maintained. Should SCP-976-J teleport, it is to be replaced at the center of the room.

Procedures deemed insufficient following a 987 meter teleportation jump in the direction of Site 11.

Addendum 2: Record of Neutralization Attempts For SCP-976-J
Due to a combination of SCP-976-J's teleportation capabilities (making transfer to other locations difficult), and the security risk of showing SCP-976-J containment protocols of other SCPs, Foundation Counterintelligence requested neutralization attempts utilizing other SCPs be kept to an absolute minimum.

Attempt: Fed to SCP-682.Result: SCP-976-J fails to reappear; deemed neutralized.Notes:We don't know if simply feeding this to 682 was actually what destroyed the thing, or if it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. For that matter, we don't even know if this thing is actually destroyed - it might be taking detailed pictures of 682's innards. - Dr. ██████, 976-J Neutralization Team Leader

Addendum 3: Intelligence Report ██/██/1998
Following the cleanup of the Prometheus Labs facility, documents were recovered suggesting the possible existence of up to ██ more instances of SCP-976-J. No further instances have been recovered. There are more of the fucking things? It takes us seven years to destroy one of them, and you're telling me there are more?! Goddammit! - Foundation Counterintelligence Director ████████.